And So It Continues
by birdie7272
Summary: How were the Time Lords able to give the Doctor new life through a crack in time and space? The Master had more to do with it than he knew. One-shot explaining what was going on on the other side of the crack.


Being dragged into hell would have been wonderful if he actually got to go out and experience it. Instead he was stuck in jail. Four force fields secluded him from the outside war. There was no point in trying to escape.

Not yet at least.

It was a miracle they let him live. It was a miracle that Rassilon inadvertently stabilized his being and he was no longer at risk of the energy consuming his body. In fact, it was all rearranged and put back in so the life energy would not be lost and he was no longer hungry for everything. He was back to being a stable (well relatively speaking) Time Lord.

The cost? Being left to rot in the corner of Gallifrey that no one cared to visit. It was punishment enough, not to be a part of it. To be home for the first time since the planet was lost and not be able to see it. Or take it over.

He could hear it all, all the deaths, the Time Lords he thought he lost, they were dying and coming back again and again. He could hear their screams along with the metallic sounds of the Daleks with their battle cries and their weapons shooting out again and again. But he couldn't see it. He couldn't live in the glory of the war.

Then everything changed.

Being a Time Lord, he could remember the change. He could remember the war and he could remember being taken away from it, stuffed in a parallel dimension. All Time Lords could remember the change.

His guards would carelessly mention it in front of him, how they wanted to be placed in the correct universe, though not back in the war. Truly it was an issue. It was wrong for a person to jump dimensions but for a whole planet? There had to be consequences. He really wanted to see what those were. He wanted to meet this dimension's Master, this dimension's Doctor, this Gallifrey, and see if he could take it all.

Still he was stuck. Stuck in his cage, trapped with the drumming in his mind. He had hoped that as they jumped dimensions, as the purpose of the constant drumming was fulfilled, it would go away. Yet it was still there.

_Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum._

The forever and constant drumming.

Even though the Doctor had managed to hide the planet away and stop the war, it happened in his timeline so it happened to him. Nothing could change that. He was still an experiment made by his own people. He was still damaged. Still screwed.

Not as screwed as the Doctor though.

He could hear all about it from the guards that kept watch over him. They really were gossips.

The crack in the universe was found fairly soon after the switch. Everyone went to go see the crack in the wall at the citadel. They were all terrified, scared, confused, astounded. Yet he was stuck in his cage, not able to go play with it.

The High Council and Rassilon were the ones who sent out the signal calling for the person who put them there in the first place; _Doctor who?_

Why was everything always about him?

The sounds coming through the crack could be heard from his cell as there was a hookup to the citadel for the purpose of his guards. He could hear all they could and he could hear the Doctor speaking through the crack. The voice may have changed but he could tell who it was. He could always tell who the Doctor was. He knew him best after all.

300 years he could hear him there, protecting the town of Christmas, whispering to Gallifrey, and preventing another war from starting. He grew old along side the Doctor as they continued their standstill. Rassilon was throwing one hell of a fit about it too. The High Council refused to send the planet through without knowing if it was safe and he knew he had to wait for the Doctor to say his name.

It went on that way for all that time, unchanging, until a woman's voice came through the crack.

_His name is the Doctor. All the name he needs, everything you need to know about him. And if you love him, and you should, help him!_

The Master could do the math. He knew that if the Doctor was wasting away without regenerating, he was done for. There wasn't another life left in him and he was about to give it up all together. They would be stuck in that universe with the Council refusing to budge until they all wasted away. It was against the ridiculous rules to interfere too much in a universe that wasn't theirs so they would be stuck to their own planet.

That was unless they listened to the girl.

Naturally no one wanted to help. They wasted time arguing and saying it was all a trick. They hand't gone through that crack because of the danger, because it could all be a trap, and they weren't about to go through for some girl. Without being able to see past the sliver of space, they didn't even know if it really was the Doctor himself defending the town and listening to their signal.

While they all argued, the Master grew more and more impatient. The Doctor, his sort-of-friend-but-really-enemy, was going to die and it was not going to be by his hands. He was going to be stuck in that cage, forced to live in seclusion from every form of madness except his drumming, all because of the stuck up and traditional ways of the people in charge.

No more.

The Master started to throw a good fit in his cage, banging on the invisible walls and calling for Rassilon himself to see him. At first he was ignored but eventually they had to hear him out. Rassilon knew of the madness that he himself caused in the Master's mind but he also knew of the genius. As stubborn and close-minded as he was, he would hear what the trapped Time Lord had to say.

"Koschei." Rassilon stepped to the edge of his cage. "What is it? What do you have to say?"

"Why aren't you helping him?"

"We do not have the means to-"

"Sure you do! You offered me more lives why not him?"

"We cannot just make life! It has to be taken."

"So take some!"

"From who?" Rassilon sighed at the same argument he had been having with the Council and other members of the planet. He believed in helping the Doctor by taking a life. The who did not matter. Yet due to his position he had no choice but to do the moral thing. His own opinion was useless, so he would fight and fight hard for morality. "How do we make such a decision? Who do we take a life from?"

"Oh please. It's not that hard. Close your eyes and point!"

"That is easy to say for someone who has had more than their fair share of lives."

The Master smirked from his cell and allowed the drums to take over as he tapped on the floor in beats of four. It was time to put his plan into place. The Doctor was not dying unless he said so. "Take mine."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh you're not that old. You heard me."

"You have no lives left."

"I have this one."

Rassilon pretended to think for a moment but really he was jumping at the opportunity. This would solve all his problems including the political ones. He would be taking a life from a willing participant and a criminal. Still, he had to play along so he didn't seem too eager. "This will kill you."

"Well it's that or stay locked up in a cage as I age." He was already an old man long since shrunk in his over-sized sweatshirt. "I said it. Now do it!"

"Very well. I shall converse with the Council and return."

Just like that he was gone to return a few moments later with a seal in his hands, similar to the one the Master was promised long ago, the one the Doctor stole from him.

"We will bring you to the crack now. You will be restrained until we have concluded our business. Guards." Rassilon nodded at the guards in front of the cage and the Master was released. His hands were bound and his thoughts were watched telepathically. Lucky for him he had long learned to send the drums pounding so his true thoughts would be concealed.

The Master was brought forward to behold the crack in the wall shining out a white light that could not be seen past. There was the sound of a Dalek ship calling out the Doctor but nothing else. Many council members were crowded around the crack leaving a space open for the Master.

"What's with the welcome party?" The Master asked while everyone stared down at him.

"We will be moving the crack closer to the Doctor so there is no chance the energy will not reach him." Rassilon answered as everyone moved towards the wall and started to place a hand over the crack.

"Telepathic energy?" The Master asked, grinning inside but still hiding his thoughts. Really he was thinking about how damn lucky he really was. Every member of the council would be using all of their energy to move the crack, completely distracted.

"Precisely." Rassilon nodded at the guards who undid the Master's bindings as he brought the seal forward. "All you are required to do is hold the seal and focus. Allow it to absorb all life energy you have. Once the command is given it will continue to absorb until you are dead. We will then send the seal into the crack where it will disperse and the energy will be released. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly." He smiled with his answer and grabbed the seal.

"On my mark." All members of the council, Rassilon included, closed their eyes and held hands over the crack in the wall. "Now."

The telepathic energy crackled in the room as the crack opened just a bit, just enough to peek through, and showed it was moving in space through to a place closer to the Doctor. The Master grabbed tighter at the seal in his hands and focused on giving the command. He could feel the seal start to suck his life away, so with all the strength his old bones had he ran forward and grabbed onto the top of Rassilon's head. Rassilon was far too concentrated to even pay attention to it but he was being drained.

The Master laughed as he felt the energy drain from their leader, pass through his body, and soak into the seal. He helped himself to a few more lives as the rest were kept in the seal below his finger tips. When Rassilon dropped almost dead he tossed the seal into the crack and stepped back. He wasn't going to live with those old bones a moment more.

Closing his eyes he focused on the new energy and sent it throughout his system. The High Council started to pull away and confusion and panic soon followed when they saw the burnt out Rassilon on the ground. Any moment he would die completely and his time stream would erupt. That was unless the Council took precautions so the stream would not be focused in the citadel. That would just be unheard of. Which meant only a few of them ran towards him, as they put two and two together, and so he laughed and erupted with energy himself, leaving them to fall on their backs from the explosion as he changed.

Pain flushed his system as his biology was re-worked and the drums got louder. He felt his body get young again, the drums never ending, and as he came out of it he knew he could run like he used to. Without bothering to check himself over for any abnormalities he started to run and run fast towards where he knew at least one TARDIS would be kept. He was going to fly through that crack and win his battle with the Doctor if it was the last thing he did.

Lucky for him he had a few more lives to do it in.

* * *

The Doctor could feel the new energy given to him by his people coursing through his system and the pain that came with it. They granted him more than one life it seemed, though how many only time would tell. Then he started to see the images in his mind. The images of Amelia Pond, the girl who waited. He had never experienced anything quite like it in all his regenerations. Yet there she was, plain as day, caressing his cheek and sending him off. He would say he was crazy if he wasn't feeling it himself.

He also felt the sadness. The infinite amount that came with every death of his. He knew it would be alright and that he would come out on the other side with memories but that was all it would be. It would all just be memories. He tried to explain it to Clara, comforting her about his death but the closer he came, the harder it was. Tears were on the verge of escaping before he could feel the heat growing too extreme. He was about to change. No stopping it.

It was so fast as he had already been on tract to changing before. In an instant the pain came in full force and in that instant it was over. He took in as much as he could but something wasn't right. Something was different this time. He felt all body parts there but there was something in his mind that was just...wrong.

_Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum_


End file.
